every day, veteran homeowners are calling newday to pay off credit card debt that's been piling up. many were shocked to learn they've been paying 22% on their credit card balances. and if payments were late, as much as 30%. that's over three times the interest rate on a newday 100 va home loan. pay off high rate credit cards and other debt with a lower rate newday home loan. save hundreds a month, thousands a year. >> john: the pentagon set to brief this hour as we can follow to breaking stories. first, israel confirms that the idf killed hamas' top leader yahya sinwar. he was the mastermind behind the october 7th attacks. he was killed in a firefight in southern gaza. >> sandra: israeli officials say they have confirmed sinwar's

death through decca records and dna evidence. this is a big victory for benjamin at yahoo who has vowed to eliminate him since the start of the war. >> john: we seem to do this every day. i am john roberts. to be with in new york. >> sandra: good to have you in new york with us. i'm sandra smith and this is america reports. the u.s. military taking action against the cooties. striking underground weapon sites in yemen. this is the first time they've been used in combat since 2017. let's get right to our chief national correspondent jennifer griffin who has the latest on this and you are live at the pentagon with the latest. what do we know? >> we have just learned that the pentagon briefing has been moved to 3:00 p.m. eastern, about an hour from now. israeli officials sent the u.s. counterparts photographs of what appeared to be the corpse of

yahya sinwar earlier today. they told their defense department counterparts that they were awaiting dna testing. that testing has come back positive. a senior u.s. defense official said defense secretary lloyd austin who was in brussels at the time was passed a note during an ongoing nato defense ministerial meeting on sinwar's potential death. we have since learned that he spoke by phone with israeli defense minister after that. it's no exaggeration to say that yahya sinwar was israel's bin laden. he masterminded the october 7th attack which left 1200 israelis dead and took hostages. yahya sinwar spent 23 years in an israeli prison and he studied his israeli captors and learned perfectly hebrew. his life was saved by an israeli surgeon when it was discovered he had a brain tumor. he was released as part of a 1,000 person prisoner release in 2011 in exchange for the release

of israeli soldier who had been held captive in gaza. israeli police forensics were also able to match sinwar's dental records as well. u.s. officials must now figure out how to capitalize off of the opportunity for a cease-fire and return of all hostages in gaza including seven americans. i am told senior u.s. officials are now on their way to the region as we speak. last night the u.s. military struck five houthi weapons facilities in yemen using b-2 stealth bombers which flew round trip from whiteman air force base in missouri. it's the first time as you mentioned the u.s. military has used the b-2 stealth bomber which is nuclear capable since president obama ordered them to strike isis targets in libya on his last day in office january 20th 2017. mrs. the first time that the b-s been used in combat since then. the b-2 dropped multithousand

pound bombs and were chosen to send a strong message to the region. austin said in a region the mike statement at the director of resident bite and i authorize these strikes to degrade the houthi capability to continue their destabilizing behavior and to protect and defend u.s. forcd personnel in one of the worlds most critical waterways. who is the leader for hamas in gaza who can negotiate the release of the remaining hostages. all of the top leaders have been killed by israel and whether iran will try to avoid the looming israeli air strikes by trying to bring an end to the conflict in gaza. doubtful. u.s. officials believe that there is a small window right now to leverage the death of sinwar to hold what they have feared are becoming an expanding war. >> sandra: live at the pentagon with the very latest and we will see you again shortly. >> john: let's get the latest in the middle east. trey yingst is live in israel.

do we know anymore about how this went down? >> good afternoon appeared we are still gathering information about what exactly took place but we can now report that the shelling actually happened yesterday. israeli forces were not able to make it to this area of southern gaza until today where they discovered according to reports the body of yahya sinwar. this makes an important distinction. this was not like the targeted strike against hassan nasrallah the leader of hezbollah. this was a routine strike saw movement and southern gaza and fired and got to the scene and confirmed that they had killed the leader of hamas, sinwar. but jennifer raises an important point. the question is what happens to the hostages inside gaza because up until this point the qatari and egyptian negotiations that were ongoing albeit at a low level were still led in part by yahya sinwar. hamas is running out of leaders to negotiate on their behalf and

there are still more than 100 hostages, some of them dead in some of them alive inside gaza. israel's prime minister tonight netanyahu addressed the nation and the world but he took a moment to speak directly to palestinians inside gaza offering immunity to anyone who could provide information on the hostages and two hamas fighters i would lay down their arms and tried to bring an end to this conflict. there's a variety of outcomes here about what comes next but both american and israeli officials agree this is a window of opportunity to try to get the remaining hostages out of gaza and it's an opportunity for israeli leadership including the country's defense minister to send a message to israeli enemies around the world that the israelis are not afraid to target senior leadership. he said in a statement today "we are doing everything in order to get those who harmed your loved ones and free the hostages and return them to their families." the israelis trying to speak not only to the international

community but also to their own citizens that the war will continue until the hostages are brought home and israel is still prepared to fight its enemies across the region. >> john: trey yingst for us with the latest from israel as we try to find out how this all went down. let's bring in the democratic senator from the state of delaware. chris coons is a member of the senate foreign relations committee. your thoughts on all of this. unlike the mossad which strategically targeted and systematically targeted all of the members of black september involved in that massacre, this seemed to have been a happy accident. this was in her israeli squad operating in the south of gaza, got into a firefight and just so happens that they took out the leader of hamas. >> no matter how it happened, this was a great day for justice appeared for all those who loft loved ones and those who are waiting for the release of family members held in gaza.

the architect of the brutal murders of the october 7th attack is dead. it is a moment of justice. a moment also where we might see a new opening for a resolution of the war in gaza if whoever succeeds yahya sinwar is able to grasp the moment and release the remaining hostages which still includes americans. i will remind you and our viewers today that one of the main reasons why hamas struck on october 7th in addition to the ideology being a hateful anti-israel and anti-jewish ideology is they wanted to stop the steady progress toward saudi arabia and israel recognizing each other, reconciling and ending the arab-israeli conflict and delivering regional security against iran and its proxies for israel. my hope is there is a window to resume and move forward that conversation. >> sandra: we continue to watch these celebrations on the

ground there in tel aviv where we have a live camera up. bottom right of your screen we are anticipating a state department briefing and we will see that shortly. we are also anticipating remarks from vice president kamala harris who was on the campaign trail. she is in wisconsin right now and i believe the university of wisconsin milwaukee. she will remarks shortly. what would you like the message to be coming from our leadership here following the confirmed death of sinwar? >> first a recognition that he is a murderous terrorist who has killed americans, killed israelis, killed people from a wide range of countries. killed palestinians. we should recognize that this is a good moment that frankly, justice was done. second, we need to redouble our efforts to support a pathway toward peace, a resolution of the conflict that will provide it real and lasting security for israel and the israeli people and the last, that we need to continue to work together to make the region more secure.

the strike that the biden administration ordered last night against the houthi used one of our most remarkable capabilities. these b-2 bombers that literally fly around the world from i believe missouri in the united states to hit targets in the middle east. they used some of our most sophisticated bunker buster bombs and should have reduced the threat the houthi posed to commercial shipping in the red sea but the message there is clearly also directed to iran that we have the capabilities to push back on the regional proxies, to reduce the threat that they pose both the israel and to the civilian people of the region. the lebanese and the iraqis and the palestinians who have been the victims of hezbollah and hamas and the fighting in recent years and that we should all take an opportunity here to move forward in resolving this conflict in a positive way. >> john: you mentioned a moment ago that yahya sinwar was

responsible for killing palestinians and he has in many different ways. he became know as the picture of hon eunice because he took a number of palestinians who were accused of collaborating as israel and personally killed th. a lot of people say he is response will for the death of thousands there because he's been using them as human shields. but senator, for the last few months president biden and vice president kamala harris have been urging benjamin netanyahu to sign on to a cease-fire. obviously there's a lot of suffering in gaza. there's a lot of suffering and israel appeared there's a lot of suffering going on in lebanon and it would be good to bring this thing to a close but you have to bring it to a close and away that does not leave israel with a daily existential threat that it faces. but if benjamin netanyahu had listened to the president and the vice president, sinwar would still be alive instead of being dead. >> let's be clear. no one has stood nor strongly

behind israel and its security than our president joe biden. he is pulled together a regional coalition to make sure that the two times in recent months that iran has directly attacked israel, they failed. the missiles, the drones, the hundreds of missiles and drones that they launched recently and in the spring did not cause any significant damage in israel and that is demonstrating his insistence that we will continue to stand by israel. i frankly think that the mossad eventually were going to find and kill yahya sinwar no matter where he was or what he was doing and as you said, earlier in this interview it may end up having been a lucky moment in fighting rather than a targeted attack that killed him but i ner had any doubt that the israelis would ultimately bring him to justice. just as the united states, we waited until i think it was 2011 before we ultimately found and killed bin laden. it was an important moment for

us to achieve justice for the victims of 9/11. this is an important moment for israel to achieve justice for the victims of october 7th but the question going forward is how do we make peace and security that is lasting for israel? at some point there has to be a cease-fire and a regional reconciliation. >> sandra: it appears there's a brand-new statement from the white house and president biden will be speaking soon with israel's netanyahu to discuss bringing hostages home and ending the war. this is a brand-new statement. surely we will get a read out of that and now we see vice president kamala harris stepping up to the microphone there. let's listen in. >> vice president harris: to date israel confirmed that yahya sinwar, the leader of hamas, is dead. and justice has been served. the united states, israel, and the entire world are better off as a result. sinwar was responsible for the

killing of thousands of innocent people. including the victims of octobes killed in gaza. he had american blood on his hands. today i can only hope that the families of the victims of hamas feel a sense and measure of relief. sinwar was the mastermind of october 7th. the deadliest day for the jewish people sense the holocaust. a terrorist attack that killed 1200 innocent people and included horrific sexual violence and more than 250 hostages taken into gaza including seven americans living and deceased who remained in captivity. a terrorist attack that triggered a devastating war in gaza, a war that has led to unconscionable suffering of many

innocent palestinians. and greater instability throughout the middle east. in the past year, american special operations and intelligence personnel have worked closely with their israeli counterparts to locate and track sinwar and other hamas leaders. i commend their work and i will say to any terrorist who kills americans, threatens the american people, or threatens our troops or our interests, know this. we will always bring you to justice. israel has a right to defend itself and the threat that hamas poses to israel must be eliminated. today, there is clear progress toward that goal. hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated. this moment gives us an

opportunity to finally end the war in gaza. and it must and is such that israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering and gaza ends, and the palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination. and it is time for the day after to begin. without hamas and power. we will not give up on these goals and i will always work to create a future of peace, dignity, and security for all. thank you all. speech of giving it up be there to see if she answered any of those questions. she did not. but making a very firm statement upon the death of sinwar. the world is better off.

the vice president saying justice has been served. sinwar had american blood on his hands. >> john: he did indeed. he had the blood of a lot of people on his hands. the crux of this issue is in this statement. she wants the war to end, finally end, but in a way that keeps israel secure and that is something we can talk about. >> sandra: president biden putting out a statement this is a good day for israel, the united states, and the world. let's bring in marks. you were listening to the vice president's statement there. first up, your reaction. >> it's a good statement. well prepared, well delivered. unfortunately vice president harris in march of this year said i have read the maps and i oppose israelis going into rafah and gaza and she has opposed israeli operation. she has called as john said

earlier for the israelis to stop the war, agree to a cease-fire that would've kept sinwar alive and would've kept the violence continuing. some acknowledgment that the vice president and the president themselves has been wrong to try to block israeli operations because without that there would not of been the soldiers on the ground who fortunately encountered sinwar and were able to get rid of a sadistic murderer. >> john: to that point. coming back to what i set about the crux of the statement that she made is the war has to end in a way so that israel is secure. if the war ends tomorrow or this afternoon, hamas will still be in place, hezbollah will still be in place. iran will still present an existential threat to israel with its nuclear program. that does seem to be the one thing that the biden administration is not realizing. that if you don't defeat hamas in a way that it cannot be

reconstituted and come back and, if you don't defeat hezbollah and a way that they stop threatening israel with more than 100,000 missiles that they likely have left even after this conflict and if you don't end this war and a way that iran does not continue to use its proxies to attack israel and to now directly attack israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles, this war will never end in a way that israel can be secure. what else needs to happen in order for that statement to be fulfilled? >> you are exactly right. the israelis live in a tough layer hood. they live in the middle east, not the midwest. and they understand that diplomacy without coercion, talks, concessions, put capitulation. what they've done is they have ignored the biden administration, they've ignored vice president harris and they have gone out to kill the enemies of america and israel who have, as we said over and

over again, substantial blood on their hands of our citizens and they are holding them hostage. thankfully the israelis realize that. but that means there's an opportunity for coercive diplomacy. using leverage in order to get a political settlement. this has to end with a political settlement. it has to end up with the destruction of hamas' military and government capabilities and gaza and we are further along than we were certainly three or four months ago in achieving that. it needs to end with the destruction of hezbollah's government and capabilities in lebanon and it needs to end with the iranian regime in tehran taking significant blows, undermining their power and supporting the iranian people. millions of whom despise the regime and want to topple this regime. we have a unique opportunity to reorder the middle east in ways that will promote american national security and promote arab-israeli normalization and get rid of these enemies that have been inflicting so much blood and so much violence on

the region and against our citizens. >> sandra: i want to highlight the screen. we have this live shot up there in tel aviv for those wondering. obviously we've been calling it a celebration on the ground and israel following the confirmation of sinwar's death. specifically these are families of hostages we are told that her live on our tv screen right now. they are near israel's defense ministries in tel aviv calling for the release of hostages. just wanted to make sure we were really specific on what we are showing there. to the president's in his statement, part of it reads" more than 250 were taken hostage with 101 still missing. that number includes seven americans, four of whom are believed to still be alive and held by hamas terrorists. sinwar is the man most responsible for this. they are obviously hoping this is an opportunity to push harder for the release of those hostages. is this a better opportunity for

them now? >> it's a much better opportunity. there is still a guy who lives in joe r cotter. he is the head of the political wing of hamas and he's been living there in the lap of luxury in a six star hotel worth about $4 billion that he stole from the international community that was supposed to go to help palestinian people. he is there and he has a choice but he can surrender on behalf of hamas, he can order the hamas terrorists to release the hostages. i ministered netanyahu has promised to grant immunity to any hamas leader or hamas fighter who does so and he can actually bring resolution. but he has a choice. he could do that or there's two other things we can do. the first is we can force the qatari's who've been harboring hamas for many years to extradite him to the united states to stand trial for killing americans or if he does not want to do that, then masson will find him and hunt him down

and will kill him because the israelis will seek justice for those who have hurt, maimed, and murdered their citizens and it doesn't matter how long it takes. they will find him. it's an opportunity to bring about a peaceful resolution or to force the qatari's, supposedly great allies who have done nothing at all to help us in this conflict to finally get hamas to release american hostages, israeli hostages, and as i say, bring resolution to this. >> john: to that point, i was thinking the same thing you are. if he is now the heir apparent, he was the head of the hamas political wing until 2017 and then the mantle felt. but if now the focus is back on him, he needs to feel almost like a dead man walking because i don't think that the mossad would go after him and qatar but the second he leaves the border as we saw, even in downtown

tehran, the mossad will get him. >> i think you're right. he may never leave dull hard. i'm not so sure that the mossad will try to target him there. at the end of the day it will have diplomatic blowback. it will have diplomatic blowback but i think the israelis have demonstrated after october 7th they are willing to do whatever it takes. and there's things that they may not have been prepared to do before october 7th. so he may never leave but my preference is the united states has significant leverage over the qatari's. we have an important air faceplates there that protects them from their enemies. and it's time to force them to extradite him. i would assume in a courtroom in the united states of america indicted and convicted for killing our citizens and then i want to see him in a maximum security prison rotting away for the rest of his life after all of the brutal damage he has done. i think it would be fitting and poetic if you went from a six star hotel and $4 billion of net

worth to a maxim security prison in a small cell. i think that would be poetic and it would also bring, again, a measure of justice for the americans and israelis and others that he has helped kill and maim appeared. >> sandra: we will continue to update what we are hearing from officials here in the u.s. our pentagon press secretary major general pat ryder provided a readout of his phone call with the defense minister, the israeli defense minister. discussing the killing of the hamas leader sinwar. he reaffirms his support in that call for israel's right to defend itself and reiterated that the deployment of the terminal high altitude aerial defense represents u.s. unwavering and enduring and ironclad commitment to israel's security and the secretary expressed strong support for the immediate release of all hostages and a cease-fire in gaza. this is the messaging we are hearing from u.s. officials upon his death and we await word from the president which will be an important moment in all of this.

>> i think these expressions of support are very important. obviously very close israel u.s. alliance for many years but we need to be somewhat measured in our praise of the administration. it was only a few days ago that the biden administration was threatening to cut off ammunition and weapons sales to the israelis. they have done that multiple times in the past 12 months. it's very interesting but the brigade that was responsible for killing sinwar was made up of these young soldiers peered some of them were secular, summer 19-year-old young sergeants nine months into the service who killed sinwar but this may not of been publicly reported. that brigade was also made out of ultra orthodox israeli soldiers who were part of a brigade that the biden administration was going to sanction only a few months ago. it's very interesting in terms of the symbolism and the praise

but one has to be measured and how we respond to the president, the vice president, and the secretary of defense comments because they are been times throughout this war where they have really tried to undercut the ability of the israeli defense forces to take the fight to our collective enemies. >> sandra: thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. >> john: thank you mark. let's go back to trade angst live in haifa, israel. you probably heard what mark had to say there. the brigade of israeli soldiers was a young brigade and he suggested it was members of a brigade that was sanctioned by the biden administration operating in the west bank. you know if that is true? >> i don't know if that's true and i can't confirm that information at this time but i can tell you that this was conducted by ground forces operating inside gaza. some of these soldiers have not fought in previous wars. a lot of the soldiers that we meet inside gaza fought back as

far as 2014 in the 51 day war between israel and hamas. some thought along the border and other locations but there are many new soldiers that are operating at one of the most inevitable arts about the story as this was not a complex intelligence operation to track down the leader of hamas yahya sinwar. this was by chance that he was killed in the southern part of gaza. we understand yesterday and ultimately today it is forces were able to get to the location where they believed just a cell of hamas militants were killed and ultimately find and recover the body of this hamas leader. as this is taking place the ground operations and denied gaza, israelis are fighting on another front and just since we spoke earlier this hour we have a new update from the israeli defense forces and they say five of their soldiers were killed today in southern lebanon. it gives you a sense of how active the fronts are. the israelis are still actively fighting hamas on the ground

inside gaza and now they are fighting hezbollah in southern lebanon and for many of these soldiers it is their first time in combat and the israelis are drawing on some of the reserve units what they were's first two here as million. but they are still in need of a number of soldiers understanding the conflicts that are taking place today could be extended and expanded for months if not longer. >> sandra: obviously the world is spreading around the world of this mighty blow as some lawmakers are detailing it in their reactions to hamas and iran. justice has been served said the vice president of the united states moments ago. what else are you hearing about reaction on the ground there? we are taking some live images there and tel aviv a few moments ago but has word spreads, what is the reaction? >> on the ground here in israel there are people celebrating the death of yahya sinwar. he was the most wanted man in gaza at the top of the israeli

hit list but as you saw on the images out of tel aviv, the families, the hostages, 101 of them still remain in gaza with thousands alive. their focus shifted very quickly to the fate of their loved ones. you heard israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his address to the nation and israel's defense minister and his statement talking about the hostages. both israeli and american officials agree this is a unique window, an opportunity to possibly pressure hamas the remaining leadership in gaza and elsewhere in places like qatar and turkey to make a deal and get some of the remaining hostages out of hamas activity in gaza. but there are real questions about what this means for iranian proxies across the region. israelis have taken out hamas leadership and islamic jihad leadership in gaza. organizations that admitted to fox news on camera that they received funding and support from the iranian regime. they took out hassan nasrallah the leader of hezbollah in

lebanon and they've dealt blows to other backed groups and the houthi were targeted overnight by americans. this is an active conflict but the israelis are looking to send a message and the message really isn't specifically being delivered to the iranian regime. a regime that is likely to face an israeli counterattack following a ballistic missile attack earlier this month. the israelis are not afraid to target key leadership if that means the security of this state. as we look forward, we will see more reaction, possibly even from some of the hamas leadership. i've checked my phone and we haven't gotten any official statement from the remaining hamas leadership that will often put out statements following israeli strikes inside of gaza but as we look forward, this is a message to other enemies of israel and others across the middle east about what israel is willing to do especially when they are attacked as they were on october 7th. >> john: it would seem that there are fewer and fewer people who are available to respond. let us know if you find out

anything. trey asked for us, thank you. >> sandra: let's get right to gillian turner. she's with the state department with more on what we are you learning. we are now getting some word from the white house via sullivan speaking on behalf of the state department here i'm not sure where this is happening but he said we will need to wore that fours death is a long-term blow appeared what you think and question marks because that is happening on air force one. they're having some sort of a gaggle on the plane right now and jake sullivan is talking to reporters there and that's what we are hearing that from. we confirmed a little while ago that secretary of state antony blinken is spoken to qatar's foreign minister and the conversation focused on what fault happens next for a potential cease-fire and hostage deal. a couple of things on vice president harris' remarks. i'm sure you and your guests noted this. it was pretty unusual to see a sitting vice president come out

and make public confirmation including comments on foreign terrorist leaders death before the president himself had the opportunity to say anything. the white house released a statement from president biden just as harris was wrapping up her remarks. she had the first word on it. we were anticipating hearing from president biden first on this but should be she spoke first. the other notable thing is she said "this moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in gaza." what she meant by that is the biden administration for months now has believed cease-fire deal was not going to be possible with sinwar and power. you might recall that back at the end of may president biden first laid out he is cease-fire deal to the international community. it included plans for the release of the remaining hostages who were alive at that moment. five months ago.

and then secretary blinken traveled to the middle east immediately after. he came back to the united states -- excuse me, jun. he came back and said they believed they were all the way there to a cease-fire deal that included the return of hostages to their families on the israeli and u.s. sides but there is a one lone holdout, one sticking point and that sticking point, though he never said the name, was yahya sinwar. when the vice president is talking about a new opening, a potential pathway to get back on track with cease-fire negotiations, she is implying that the future leader of hamas whoever succeeds at sinwar might be more open to that than he was. whether that is eyes in the sky fantasizing now or it is a real tangible possible outcome remains to be seen. it's why the reporting from trey yingst about who is in the succession line over the middle east and in turkey is so important. we are waiting a

state department briefing now. we are hoping to get more clarity from the spokesman here about what they believe this could all mean for the cease-fire talks. as we talked about last hour, it is a moment of great enthusiasm and optimism here on the part of the biden administration officials no matter what everybody has been saying publicly. >> sandra: gillian turner, we do expect we will have the audio from that gaggle with matt miller on air force one shortly and we will certainly play that out for our viewers. thank you. >> john: right now let's go to peter doocy. he is live at the white house. when we hear from biden on this? >> we have the paper statement from president biden but we expect him to be in the air aboard air force one for another hour and 15 minutes or so. he is going out to germany to talk to the germans about ukraine funding. but something that is striking from the very straightforward remarks that vice president harris gave earlier when she was talking about how the operation

that the israelis carried out that was aided by u.s. intelligence forces goes to show terrorists hurt innocent people, who her americans that they will be tracked down and killed. that is so much different than what she was saying and march when she did this interview on abc news and she said that she and her team had warned the israelis that going into rafah would be a huge mistake. they were very worried about where all the innocent refugees would be going. a slight change in tone between that and now everybody is celebrating the israelis and president biden who we know has had a very strained relationship with benjamin netanyahu over the last several months said he will be calling netanyahu to congratulate him. president biden -- one of the things that he said in july 3 days after he put out that letter announcing he was dropping out he said one of the things he wanted to accomplish before leaving office in january

is a cease-fire and hostage release deal. he is telling us in this restatement ahead of any remarks we might get when they landed in germany, he thinks that sinwar was the big holdup. there is renewed optimism as we are reporting that the secretary of state is talking to his counterparts in qatar where negotiations have been going on. there is new optimism that maybe they can get this done. this team that has been in place from the biden administration that is expected to completely turn over if harris wins and everyone would be gone if trump wins. there is new optimism that they can get something done soon. >> john: you went back to july there for your point of reference. i'm going to turn the dial way back a little bit further to may the 8th when asked about israel's pending operations in rafah which is where sinwar was killed, biden said this.

>> if they go into rafah, they haven't gone into rafah yet, if they go into rafah, i'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with rafah, to deal with that problem. >> john: the translation of that is if netanyahu had listened to biden, sinwar would still be alive. >> may be publicly they were putting out something to misdirect or redirect because as it turns out, the u.s. wants it known that our intelligence agencies were helping tried to track down sinwar and his crew. remember a couple months ago. i don't have the exact date, but there was a thought that the united states was going to be more helpful. the intelligence agencies would be more helpful in providing data about where they thought sinwar and his top lieutenants were as long as the israelis brought a little bit more aid into gaza or allowed aided to go

into gaza, into rafah. we don't know exactly whether or not the intelligence ever was cut off, but at least from the president and the vice president's perspective, they were enough of a help that it is the top line of the first draft of the history of the statement on this. >> john: we seem at least in the early going that u.s. intelligence and israeli intelligence had nothing to do with bagging sinwar. it was a happy accident that he is dead now. peter, thank you. >> sandra: thank you. let's bring in michael singh now managing director at the washington institute and a former director for middle east affairs at the national security council. jump on and on the breaking news here and give us your thoughts. >> obviously it is hugely consequential. as one of your previous guests mentioned, this is the equivalent for israel is when the united states managed to kill bin laden.

yahya sinwar was largely responsible for the attacks of october 7th 2023 and he was responsible for even deepening further hamas says fanatical ideology which was dedicated not only to the destruction of israel but to basically using palestinians as human fodder in that war. he saw the civilian bloodshed that followed october 7th as aiding his cause. he was quite explicit about it. >> john: we heard from the vice president just a minute ago and she said hopefully this will finally lead to a piece but it must and so israel is secure. give me a scenario in which this ends in a way that israel is secure. >> that's a long process and i think that we all recognize it. you will see three things happen now. number one, you are already seeing something that i think the israelis hope will pay off

which is trying to use the shock of sinwar's death to convince hamas fighters, ordinary gazan families who were the ones holding the hostages to give those hostages up out of fear of their lives. release those people, your leader is dead. if you do, we won't target you and you can leave gaza peacefully. the second thing you will see is an attempt to resume the hostage cease-fire negotiations. that requires someone to speak on the hamas' behalf and that is now very much up in the air. the place where you will see israel and the united states diverge is on the long-term issues. does this mean, for example, if we can get a cease-fire and gaza, we will expect the israelis to relent when it comes to what they are doing in lebanon or to refrain from attacking iran? do we have a postwar plan for gaza and do the u.s. and israel see eye to eye on that? so far, the answer is no. >> sandra: what is your

prediction on that? >> i think for all the talk of international forces or mechanisms like that in gaza, the reality is you will need a palestinian security force and gaza. you will need a nonhamas palestinian government in gaza. that is something we should have started really putting a lot of effort to on october 8th 2023 and still frankly has not been a priority for either the american or the israeli government. the u.s. government has been tactical getting into the details as you were just covering of our the israelis going into rafah or not in the cease-fire negotiations. the israelis have their domestic politics which has prevented the consideration of that but long-term security is going to require a competent governing authority in gaza. not dedicated to israel's destruction. >> john: it is interesting based on what peter doocy was saying a moment ago that the u.s. had offered intelligence to help find sinwar's whereabouts.

the mossad and israeli intelligence had clearly been looking for him. but it was just a lucky encounter by a group of young israeli forces in the southern part of gaza, in the area of rafah that this guy was taken out. they didn't even know who they were shooting at when they got into this firefight. >> that's right. and maybe it's not fair to ascribe it to luck. israel has been very methodical and relentless in going after hamas fighters and gaza and sinwar and bedded himself with hostages and fighters. in a way, it was a matter of time before they would come across him in the way that they did but it is also significant i think that it looks like a reserve brigade of idf forces that ultimately achieved the success which shows you in a sense that israel has already moved on from the fight and gaza and is much more focused on lebanon. that is where the bulk of their efforts are right now.

i think they hadn't five idf soldiers that lost their lives in the past 24 hours. >> sandra: thank you very much for joining us. john, a lot to take end, a lot of reaction pouring and all over the globe right now. france's foreign minister weighing in. a fatal blow has been struck. we will have more with the breaking news when we return. a quick break. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better.

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create a new future of peace and prosperity for all. >> john: benjamin netanyahu a short time ago commenting on the death of yahya sinwar, the mastermind of the october 7th attack who died in southern gaza yesterday. let's bring in keith kellogg fox news contributor, former national security advisory president trump and vice president pence. but right now here is matt miller. >> more than 40,000 people dead in gaza. many of them civilians. that is the blood-soaked legacy that yahya sinwar leaves behind. he did not just launch this conflict but for the past year has refused to the efforts of the united states and our partners to end it. refused to return home the hostages who have been separated from their families for more than a year. refused to agree to a cease-fire proposal endorsed by the united nations security council and countries around the world. and who in recent weeks refused

to even negotiate at all on a cease-fire and an end to the war. there are 101 hostages who remain in gaza including seven americans. and of course there are 2 million palestinians who continue to suffer the consequences of sinwar's decision to endanger their lives. the path that sinwar wanted for the region, death, destruction, instability, chaos is a path that we know the people of the region project. the horrors of the past year cannot be the future and they do not need to be the future. it is time to chart a different path. so over the days ahead the united states will redouble our efforts to return the hostages home, to bring an end to this war, to alleviate the suffering of the palestinian people, and to allow the people of gaza to begin to rebuild their lives. with that, matt. >> i will start with this

obviously but please don't close the briefing without allowing me or someone else to ask about the other very big story of the day which is of course the new u.n. partition proposal for western sahara. when you say over the course -- over the days ahead the u.s. will redouble your efforts, how exactly is that going to happen? >> a few things about that. first of all as you know we have been trying to achieve a cease-fire that returns the hostages home, alleviates the suffering of the palestinian people and ends the war for many months now. the chief obstacle to reaching that cease-fire has been sinwar who refused to negotiate at all and has had no time and time again. that obstacle has been removed. can't predict that that means whoever replaces hamas will agree to a cease-fire but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle

to getting one. we will continue to work with our partners to try to find an end to the war. the secretary today while on air force one with the president flying to berlin called the prime minister of qatar who has been one of our two mediators, other mediators working to reach an end to the war. he called the foreign minister of saudi arabia to talk about the path forward and he will be having additional contacts in the days ahead. >> but what exactly does redouble your efforts means. >> it means redoubling our efforts to try and get an agreement. >> i'm not asking you for the logistics. i understand what you want. i want to know what that means. does it mean that you will be making twice as many calls question work. >> you know the proposal that has been on the table for some time paired we will be trying to push that proposal forward. we don't know who will be on the other end of the negotiating table but it won't be sinwar so it is a very different

situation. i don't want to predict too much when our efforts will look like over the course of the days because we are just hours after what is a seismic event. it changes the nature of this conflict but we believe it is an opportunity to try to bring an end to this war and we are determined to try to seize that opportunity. >> are you going back to a place where you were two or three -- two months ago? redoubling suggests. >> from a policy perspective and a strategic objectives perspective what we want to achieve we are in the same place and we will continue to try to push forward the same proposals that we have done with our mediators. >> it doesn't include changes. >> here is the difference peered over the past few weeks there have been no negotiations for an end to the work because it

sinwar has refused to negotiate. there has been no path to ending this war because sinwar has refused to talk about releasing the hostages or coming to a cease-fire. we see an opportunity with him being removed from the battlefield, being removed from the leadership of hamas and we want to seize that opportunity. >> a couple of things. can you confirm that sinwar died yesterday? >> i assume he died yesterday. i will leave the israelis to speak to the exact results but it was the result of an operation that they conducted yesterday. i don't believe that he lay where he was brought down for hours and died later but the israelis can speak to that. they will be the ones that conduct any testing and can provide results. >> no confirmation? >> the operation that they carried out was yesterday. i assume that he died instantly or fairly shortly thereafter but the israelis can speak to that. >> qatar, does the leader of

qatar after the secretary spoke to them, do you suspect or do you know or they know who hamas has chosen the successor to be? >> i don't think anyone can say with any certainty. they have a process that they go through. we saw them go through this process peered i can only expect that they will go through that process again. i don't think anyone can predict. people can only speculate about who the next leader of hamas will be but i don't think anyone can predict with any degree of certainty. what i would hope, what we would hope is whoever the next leader of hamas is he will look at what has happened over the past year and look at the suffering that hamas' actions have brought on the palestinian people who they aim to him are present, who's because they aim to advance andk and decide that they ought to pursue a path forward.

they ought to pursue one that isn't death, destruction, chaos, and harm to israeli civilians and harm to palestinian civilians one that the united states has presented, that egypt has presented, that qatar has presented, that other countries around the world have presented and endorsed and that's what we are pushing for it. >> you communicating that indirectly to the remaining leadership there? are you communicating that this is the united states is open what you are pushing for? >> john: there is matt miller at the state department talking about the death of yahya sinwar and the way forward. antony blinken says he believes this may be an opportunity for there to be a lasting cease-fire. we will see because as michaelyo or inside, being optimistic about the middle east is usually a fallacy. ble melody of power and possibility. but that energy needs to be reliable to have the same power. and affordable — to keep the melody. at home, on the road, on farms and fleets

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good afternoon everybody i'm martha maccallum and this is the story. we are waiting right now for an update from the pentagon any